The witness, who asked that his name be withheld for fear of retaliation from the hospital, said a shoestring was tied around one arm and a syringe was found inside Ricciardi's pants. A cup of water was near the body and attempts to revive him at the scene were unsuccessful.

Town Police Chief Philip H. Schnabel said hospital security notified his department Wednesday that state police had been called to investigate an apparent drug overdose the evening before. But neither state police nor administrators at the veterans' facility would confirm that Ricciardi's death appeared drug-related.

Adam Berluti, acting spokesman for the state police, said only that state police "are investigating the circumstances" of Ricciardi's death. Any determination of the cause of death must come from the office of the state medical examiner, Berluti said.

A spokesman for the medical examiner's office said that determination requires laboratory tests that will take up to five weeks.

Ricciardi was found in the same bathroom in which another Vietnam-era Navy veteran, Robert E. Milliken, died from an overdose in April 1990. On that occasion, Hartford State's Attorney John M. Bailey blasted officials at the facility for failing to promptly notify his office or the state police. Such a delay, he said, jeopardized possible criminal prosecution.

Under state law, drug dealers found to have sold drugs that cause the death of another person can be sentenced to death.

Bailey could not be reached for comment on whether he had been notified of Ricciardi's death.

David B. McQuillan, commandant of the home and hospital, said Ricciardi had been living in the barracks since June 3. He had served in the Navy from January 1966 to July 1969 and was living in

Coventry at the time of his admission, McQuillan said.

Both McQuillan and James McKinnon III, a veterans' home official, referred all questions about Ricciardi's death to the state police.